Chapter 283
"Ten kilometers remaining!"
There was a trace of excitement in Mash's voice. To protect her companions riding on Benares, she directly activated her Noble Phantasm.
The radiant Royal Capital of Camelot stood proudly upon the dragon's back and charged headfirst into the Lahmu swarm.
At this point, calling it a hundred-ton beast was no longer enough to describe the impact.
The Lahmus along the path truly became speed bumps.
With Benares providing acceleration and the projected Royal Capital of Camelot adding its immense mass, the collision force was enough to crush every Lahmu in their way.
Honestly, as the team's main tank, this was the first time Mash had enjoyed slaughtering enemies so much.
The girl was getting excited.
"Seven kilometers!"
Like a meteor, Benares carried an entire city while rampaging through the Lahmu horde.
"Five kilometers!"
The Lahmus sensed the threat.
Every nearby unit charged forward recklessly, but before the combination of Benares and Mash, they were nothing more than speed bumps.
This highlighted one of the Lahmus' greatest weaknesses.
Compared to humans, they possessed absolutely no organization.
They acted solely according to the destructive instincts implanted by the Beast.
Despite their overwhelming numbers, they lacked structure, lacked commanding units, and couldn't even properly communicate.
That was why, in the original story, Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others had been able to charge all the way to Tiamat despite being surrounded by hundreds of millions of Lahmus.
Not to mention now.
"Three kilometers!"
"Provide full support for Quetzalcoatl's Noble Phantasm deployment!"
The Doctor immediately gave the order.
"Yes!"
Fujimaru Ritsuka placed a hand on Mash's shoulder and cast a reinforcement Cursed Technique.
As long as Camelot remained standing, they would face no danger.
"It's finally time for big sis to put on a show."
Quetzalcoatl leaped into the air.
Flames ignited in her hand as she blasted a huge opening through the sea of Lahmus.
Pointing playfully at Ritsuka, she winked.
"Fujimaru! I'll leave the magical energy supply to you!"
"Mm! Leave it to me!"
Fujimaru Ritsuka was already prepared to activate a Command Spell at any moment.
"I'll maintain the maximum distance possible before the magical energy connection breaks!"
Quetzalcoatl Summoned her pterosaur and flew toward Tiamat atop its back.
"These past few days have been suffocating."
Looking down at Tiamat's mountain-like body, she smiled.
"Now... let me properly stretch my muscles!"
She clenched her fist and knelt on one knee atop the pterosaur.
"Once existed here, and still exists now!"
Blinding golden light gathered around her fist.
"And shall exist here in the future as well!"
Quetzalcoatl raised her fist high.
Then she opened her palm.
A golden magic circle engraved with elements of Mayan mythology appeared in the sky.
"Wind, come!"
"Thunder, descend!"
She clenched her fist again.
Wind and lightning erupted around the magic circle.
"This is the hour when Venus shines!"
Brilliant flames emerged from the circle and were drawn into her hand.
Then she clenched her fist once more.
"The sun also shines beyond!"
Then Quetzalcoatl leaped from the pterosaur's back!
Noble Phantasm—
Piedra del Sol!
"Is that the Noble Phantasm of a Chief God?"
Three kilometers away, Fujimaru Ritsuka stared at the crimson meteor descending from the heavens, her heart shaken by the immense magical energy it contained.
The next moment, the meteor struck the earth.
Like a nuclear detonation, blinding light engulfed everything within several kilometers of Tiamat.
An unimaginable amount of seawater was instantly vaporized.
Even the black mud atop it was reduced to ashes.
The surrounding Lahmus were wiped out as well.
From above, the densely packed hordes seemed to have been erased with a single button press.
Only a towering mushroom cloud remained.
Along with a shockwave powerful enough to push even Benares back over a hundred meters.
"Terrifying..."
Fujimaru Ritsuka let out a breath of relief.
This was stable now.
Even the aftershocks were this frightening.
As expected of a Chief God-level powerhouse.
"Confirmation: Noble Phantasm Piedra del Sol activated. The black mud is being rapidly incinerated!"
Chaldea's staff rapidly reported the incoming data.
"The power has exceeded that of a standard hydrogen bomb. As expected of the Servant aspect of a Chief God."
If even a Servant aspect possessed such a powerful Noble Phantasm, how terrifying would the true Feathered Serpent God be?
This was the strength of Big Sis Quetzalcoatl without Merlin cheating away half her divinity.
"Wait, look! Tiamat is falling!"
Mash excitedly pointed toward the center of the battlefield.
Fujimaru Ritsuka looked up.
Without the black mud, Tiamat's legs could no longer support her immense weight.
Her body tilted forward and sank to one knee upon the molten sea left behind by Piedra del Sol.
"Goddess Tiamat has stopped advancing!"
The Doctor shouted excitedly.
"We succeeded!"
Quetzalcoatl finally relaxed.
This Noble Phantasm wasn't something she could casually use.
It was her trump card.
The giant stone of the ancient Aztecs, said to reveal everything about the world's past and present.
A massive stone disk with a diameter of 3.75 meters appeared overhead and served as a gate, drawing forth a portion of Quetzalcoatl's divine Authority as a deity.
The resulting solar winds that ravaged an enormous area were a direct manifestation of a Chief God's divine might.
But in the very next moment, she felt Tiamat's gaze upon her.
Her entire face stiffened.
Because she saw the enormous horns behind Tiamat slowly opening.
The backs of those horns—each larger than Quetzalcoatl herself—unfolded.
Several pairs of smaller horns extended outward.
A pale blue magical glow began to shine.
With the help of that gigantic anti-gravity apparatus, Tiamat stood up once again.
"Impossible!"
The Doctor immediately shouted.
"Weren't her legs unable to support her body weight?"
"Wait, this is..."
Da Vinci rapidly analyzed the incoming data.
"Concentrating magical energy into the large horns and their auxiliary structures... Ignoring her own weight and successfully standing..."
"Could it be...?"
A terrible feeling rose within her heart.
"She... she's flying?!"
Fujimaru Ritsuka stared in disbelief at Tiamat, who had completely left the ocean surface.
"She can actually fly?"
"How is that possible?!"
Ishtar flatly refused to accept reality.
"Mother is a goddess of the earth! She would never approach the heavens!"
"And if she can fly, then she can never fall into the Underworld! Our plan..."
"Was doomed from the start!"
"Is it that she would never approach the heavens, or merely that you believed she wouldn't?"
At that moment, Xia Yu's voice suddenly echoed from Benares.
"Tiamat... is not such a simple lifeform."
"She can thrive even in outer space. She can travel to another planet and use her Authority to rebuild an ecosystem from scratch."
"The reason you believe she would never approach the heavens is simply because she already chose this land."
"Once Mother puts down roots, she can't bear to leave her children."
"Hey, quit talking about all that nonsense!"
Ishtar immediately exploded.
"If you know so much, then you must have a way to deal with this, right?"
"I think you're underestimating the big sister from South America."
Xia Yu's voice carried a smile.
"No matter what, she's still a Chief God. Have some faith in her. She can handle it."
"You understand me after all."
Quetzalcoatl smiled.
"I said this before, didn't I?"
"No weapon of the Mesopotamian world can harm her."
She extended her hand and gathered all surrounding heat into her chest.
In an instant, the lava sea that resembled a scene from Hell rapidly cooled.
Only scattered flames remained.
"But!"
"This body possesses the divinity of a distant land of mysteries!"
The restraints adorning her body—armguards, kneeguards, and the like—shattered one after another.
Quetzalcoatl released her full power!
"The gods of Mesopotamia are no challenge at all!"
The next moment, her figure shot into the sky.
Like a reverse-falling meteor, she soared back into the heavens.
"Tiamat, witness the great collision that drove countless lives to extinction within the underground Underworld of South America!"
The meteor rose all the way to the exosphere, the closest region to outer space.
Then it descended once more with unstoppable momentum.
"This body shall become a burning stone!"
"A comet that destroys the earth!"
For the first time, Tiamat sensed genuine danger.
Layer upon layer of purple Barriers unfolded above her head.
Her enormous eyes locked firmly onto the rapidly approaching meteor.
The next moment, like a comet colliding with a planet, Quetzalcoatl smashed directly into Tiamat's Barrier.
Countless shockwaves erupted outward, tearing apart the Lahmus that had begun surrounding them once again.
In less than a second, the first Barrier shattered beneath Quetzalcoatl's foot.
Even Tiamat herself was forced downward by that overwhelming power.
Her knees bent slightly.
Then the second.
Then the third!
Tiamat finally began to panic.
She unleashed an immense amount of magical energy and opened her serrated maw.
A deafening roar exploded toward the sky.
The remaining Barriers instantly expanded several times over.
Seeing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka acted without hesitation.
She clenched her hand and shouted:
"Command Spell! Bring victory to Quetzalcoatl!"
She didn't know whether Quetzalcoatl could break through Tiamat's defenses.
But if there was even the slightest chance of increasing the odds, she would not hesitate.
Feeling the immense magical energy pouring into her body, Quetzalcoatl smiled.
"Burn, fighting spirit!"
Blazing Flames! Even Gods Shall Burn!
In the end, the Barrier could not withstand a Chief God-level Noble Phantasm.
It shattered completely!
Under Tiamat's gaze, Quetzalcoatl delivered a kick directly into her right horn.
With her divinity intact and her full power unleashed, another mushroom cloud resembling a nuclear explosion erupted.
When the smoke finally cleared, everyone watched as Tiamat's great horn slowly cracked...
Then fell.
"We did it, Senpai!"
Mash looked at the falling horn in delight.
"She can't fly anymore!"
"Cough... cough..."
Quetzalcoatl sprawled inelegantly across her pterosaur.
"Big sis here practically bet her life on that."
"If it hadn't worked... that would've been too depressing."
"You were amazing, Quetzalcoatl!"
Fujimaru Ritsuka immediately rushed over, placed Quetzalcoatl's arm across her shoulder, and helped her back onto Benares.
In the original timeline, after Merlin stole half her divinity, she couldn't accomplish this feat.
At most, she could crack Tiamat's horn.
Only after Ana, controlling Gorgon's body, burned everything she had left was Tiamat finally brought down.
And that weakened Quetzalcoatl had burned even her Spirit Origin to maximize the power of her Noble Phantasm, disappearing after using it.
But the fully powered Quetzalcoatl of the present could achieve the same result while preserving her Spirit Origin.
"Although she'll continue advancing toward Uruk as long as black mud keeps being produced..."
The Doctor calculated the rate of black mud generation and Tiamat's recovery speed.
"The timing should be about right now."
"As long as Ereshkigal works nonstop without sleep and puts in maximum overtime, she should make it in time."
"If things go wrong, I don't have a second Piedra del Sol."
Quetzalcoatl shook her head.
"The rest is up to you."
"Big sis here is almost burned out. I need a good rest."
So she could prepare for the greatest battle to come—
The one she had been looking forward to most.
"Don't worry."
Fujimaru Ritsuka confidently declared:
"Leave the rest to us!"
"King Gilgamesh's Nasu-Biting-Tooth Defense Line is still standing. It can buy us more time!"
"And we—"
"Wait, Ritsuka."
The Doctor suddenly interrupted.
"Our sensors show Kiana's dependents behind you are beginning an organized withdrawal from the defense line..."
"A withdrawal?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka turned around.
The white defense line was indeed retreating.
"My Honkai Beasts can't stop Tiamat."
Xia Yu's voice sounded once more.
Just as Benares viewed Lahmus as speed bumps, Tiamat viewed Honkai Beasts the same way.
"Next, I'll deploy them at the Northern Wall to protect the bodies of Uruk's people."
"As for Uruk itself, I'll leave it to you."
"You won't disappoint me, right, Ritsuka?"
"Of course not."
Fujimaru Ritsuka seemed to think of something, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
"It's just... Big Sister Kiana, considering how hard we've been working, could you maybe go a little easier when you attack...?"
"Of course."
Xia Yu replied with complete seriousness.
"Don't worry. I'll be very gentle."
"..."
Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash exchanged a glance.
Yeah right.
Neither of them believed that for a second.
They simultaneously recalled the battle in Fuyuki City.
It had been a complete one-sided beating.
Mash had been knocked into the sky and couldn't even come down.
Every time she managed to descend, Xia Yu would simply swat her back into the air with another sword strike.
She had practically been trapped in an infinite aerial combo.
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